Today I completed my second golf swing speed test. This was after 4 weeks of flexibility and weight training. Remember, my last test result 4 weeks ago was 115 mph. An increase of 17 mph by just doing flexibility exercises. Surely getting stronger would help you to swing faster? Watch this golf swing speed test video and see…
As you’ve just seen, I averaged 113 mph today. That means over the last 4 weeks I’ve lost 2 mph in clubhead speed!
Am I surprized?
Not really. Because after this 4 weeks of weight training I am feeling very tired and lacking a lot of energy.
So am I happy about this result?
Yes and no.
You see, although I didn’t gain any swing speed after 4 weeks of hard work I found out something that doesn’t work. Lifting weights by doing your normal type of weight lifting exercises (i.e. bench presses, leg curls, wrist curls etc.), is not a way to increase swing speed.
But that’s okay because it was very hard work. And although I’m not adverse to hard work it would take a lot of effort to keep doing the weight training program I did over the last 4 weeks.
So I would have loved to have improved my swing speed but I’m not that upset that I haven’t done so by weight training.
OK, what’s next in my effort to average over 125 mph?
Well first, I’m going to have a week off. Then from the 3rd of March I’m going to cut back my training a lot and when I do train, I’m going to work on doing explosive exercises to improve my quickness. It makes sense to me that if you want to swing faster then you have to train faster. Or should I say, train fast.
So I’m going to do exercises that require explosive quickness like olympic lifts, medicine ball work, overspeed swinging etc. Also, I’m going to experiment with some isometric exercises. Bruce Lee apparently did them and he was a very fast, explosive athlete.
Also, over the next 4 weeks I’m going to be doing a lot more checking of my golf swing speed to see whether what I’m doing is improving it or not. Because I can’t go 4 weeks thinking I’ve got the answer and everything is going well only to find out that I actually wasted another 4 weeks. Plus, I’m going to get a new swing speed device to check the swing speed measurements. Some of those swings felt very quick but the numbers didn’t really stack up…but I’ll see with the new swing speed device.
I’ll keep you informed of my progress over the next 4 weeks as I’m going to be doing a bit of experimenting.
* * *
The Golf Swing Test
You could have one serious swing fault costing you up to 50 yards in distance. But now you can take this swing test and see if you have this swing fault or not: http://www.yourgolfswingtest.com
Tags: golf swing, speed
February 25th, 2008 at 10:22 am
You quit! You quit lifting after just four weeks after not lifting for almost a year. You gave up! You didn’t mention how many reps, sets, frequency, and amount of weights you lifted. You didn’t mention if you used a trainer to give you advice. You didn’t mention how often you included your flex training with weight training. Yes, it takes a lot of hard work in weight training. It appears to me that you tried to max out your weights without gradually increasing. You left a lot of information out. If others who are just starting to play and take your word as “the truth”, you are misleading them. Weight training can equal endurance. Add isometric and speed training and you’ll be better. Sounds to me you’re looking for a quick fix instead of a permanent, long term solution.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Type your comment here.
Nick,
You have fallen into the same trap that most of the golf community through lack of knowledge. Training in the frontal(side to side)plane and sagital(back to front)plane is not going to swing the club faster.
Hitting the golf ball further is a technique not brute force or speed. It is physics and geometry. The swing and body rotation(hands, arm, shoulder, hips and legs)are needed for distance and direction.
Find exercise that will exercise the body in transverse planes and rotational exercise. lYou need to assess where you muscle imbalances may exist. Then incorporate exercises that isolate a the imbalanced group that you want to improve. Then intergrate the the muscle group with movement. Only then would you consider stregthen the group. Maintaining balance through out the training period. Lastly you would incorporate power exercises.
February 25th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Hi Nick,
Fascinating!
You may already know of the following, but in case not you may find it of interest.I have previously toyed seriously with Lever Power Golf and its founder Mr Kuykendall who covers this aspect of the golf swing in considerable detail-ie(fast twitch muscles). He has golf club-specific exercises which help to generate the required speed.One I recall involves kneeling on a mat with a club extended out to the right with the back of the club resting on the mat. The object is to try and rotate the lower arms and wrists as fast as you can so the club swings through an arc of 90 degrees and the face of the club hits the mat to the left of the golfer.His site is well worth a look on this aspect alone.
Ian
February 25th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
It’s o.k doing the weights. How abvout using a couple of dum bells at the end of each arm extended, simulating the golf swing? Any good? A Pro told me to get greater distance is to increase your speed just before hitting the ball with the club. How do you do this as the momentum is continuous on the down stroke.
I find it impossible to downswing at one speed and two feet from hitting the ball, increasing the speed?
February 25th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Some golf instructors teach a “wrist snap”! Moving the right wrist at the moment of taking back your club and then it will automatically “snap” forward at impact with the ball.
What do you think of the approach? It elimiates the strength theory, as the speed of the downswing is increased with the “snap”.
February 25th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Strength training for golf is far different from grabbing the latest routine from some fitness magazine.
Just as you pointed out yourself, “Lifting weights by doing your normal type of weight lifting exercises (i.e. bench presses, leg curls, wrist curls etc.), is not a way to increase swing speed.”
Four weeks of lifting after a full year is nothing (sorry), relatively speaking. You need a year-round program that involves emphasizing endurance, strength, and power in different phases. You certainly can’t cover that in just four weeks although you’re headed in the right direction doing power exercises to prepare for a fast-twitch dominant activity.
(Although, to get the most out of power exercises, you need to optimize strength first.)
Vince was absolutely right (and sounds like a fellow golf fitness pro – I’m working with Golf Fitness Magazine). Focus on hip rotation, trunk rotation and transverse plane exercises. Golf is a transverse plane dominant sport.
By the way, what’s the margin of error on your speed check device? A “decrease” of 2 mph may be statistically insignificant. – Stephen
February 25th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
If I may recommend a basic book on exercise and fitness:
http://www.amazon.com/Athlete-.....0316522503
Isometric training is not speed training. You need to work on explosive movements for that, but, speed training comes after aerobic and strength training.
Anyway, get yourself a copy of “The Athlete Within” by Simon and Levisohn, it’s available use almost for free.
Regards,
Oliver.
February 25th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Type your comment here.
Nick, If you got a significant swing speed increase by doing flexibilty exercises, what were they, and I assume you would reccommend them, thanks, Dan Serpico
February 25th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Nick;
Awhile back, on the Golf Channel, I heard Laura Diaz talking about her efforts to increase her driving distance. Her trainer (forgot who he was) was having her swing a club (inverted so she was holding it just above the clubhead) and trying to get the “whoosh” as far in front of her as possible. She said that drill added about 20 yards to her drives.
February 25th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Like a pillock I followed your lead,what a waste.
Perhaps you should keep quiet until you get a reasonable result.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
I wouldn’t replace the measurement device until the program is complete. It seems to me that you are hitting 10 balls to average out testing variables, introduced by both you and the device, then looking at the change from the last test. While maybe not perfect during individual tests, you probably should be striving for testing consistency throughout your program. Averaging out measurement variables and introducing controlled variables (your training) seems like a fair test without becoming paranoid over absolute accuracy. Changing the measurement device now might make it more difficult to form a conclusion about the contribution of each training activity toward the end result. But if you still want to replace the testing device, how about selling me your old one? Cheap.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Swing speed is a good estimate of distance; however, power sequencing, solidness of contact, and timing are important factors.
I do a lot with increasing student’s distance; but I have not found swing speed meters very useful. A good increase in the swish the club makes on the forward swing (a speed increase) corrolates well with distance achieved.
Simply softening grip pressure and arm tension while swinging with the thouught that you want more noise with less effort will add 20 to 50 yards in two to four weeks and sometimes in a few minutes.
During this test, it appears that you tried to swing harder than on the last test, that generally slows swing speed because it reduces the contribution of the lower body while forcing the upperbody contribution to be too early. I suggest that you lower your tension and repeat the test right away. I think you will show and increase in speed.
Jim McCright
February 25th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Wow, some interesting responses here. Let me respond to a few of them.
Seth, I haven’t quit lifting. I am just not going to lift in the traditional way. There’s plenty of other ways to lift weights. And i did say the reps, sets etc. Look through my others posts. I also did gradually increase my weights each session.
Vince, sounds like you’re talking about the Paul Check model?
Stephen, the point of the last 4 weeks was to get stronger. And I was stronger. Just like after the 4 weeks of flexibility exercises I was more flexible. I am going to investigate strength exercises that are directly applied to the golf swing. I am not dismissing strength all together. It’s just that what I’ve found from this experiment is it doesn’t translate into increased swing speed.
Dan, a lot of the flexibility exercises I did are on this DVD:
http://www.consistentgolf.com/bh
I did more than what was on that DVD but that’s a good start for anyone.
Bob, the new swing speed device I’m getting is just to verify the results I’m getting. It’s not necessarily to replace the SwingMate.
Jim, I’m going to repeat the swing test (no video though) on the 3rd of March. This will be after a break of any exercise so I should be fresh. I’ll post the results on this blog though and start from there.
By the way, if anyone has increased there swing speed by strength training I’d love to hear it.
-Nick
February 26th, 2008 at 1:08 am
I appreciate the dedication you have shown in your quest to improve your swing speed. I agree that your swing speed device may be off because you seem to me to be getting through the ball a lot faster than you did after completing your flexibility exercises.
February 26th, 2008 at 3:17 am
Generally speaking, with each MPH increase in swing speed, what does that traslate to in increased distance? Put another way, how much increase in distance can you expect with a 5 or 10 MPH increase in swing speed?
February 26th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Tony, every 1 mph you increase your swing speed you add 2.2 – 2.5 yards to your shots.
Thanks.
-Nick
February 27th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Speedchain!! It’s a very effective way to increase your swingspeed.
Also, I didn’t observe too much lower body resistance in your backswing. Just a thought.
February 27th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Type your comment here.I agree with John more lower body resistance is what works for me,it added 20 yards easily to my drives,after already picking up a good 20 yards from Nicks swingplane programs.
February 29th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Type your comment here.
Dear Nick
As a 75 yr old golfer woth swing speed 80 crry about 180 I am fascinated by your experiments. My efforts to gain flexibility just gave me a bad back!
Yours
Peter Brown
February 29th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Hi Nick,
I’ve done some specific training over the last 3 years and I’ve gone from swinging the driver around 95 mph to 120 mph (occasionally 125 when I swing all out). I haven’t done ANY weight lifting or stretching. I’ve been using a device called the Speedchain and the Torso Burner. You should check them out.
http://speedchain.net/en/video.....html#video
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:22 am
I believe this issue is much more simple than complicated. You have trained with weights and built new muscle tissue. It takes time for this new tissue to ’settle in’ and be useful. Your muscles are too weak to be part of the team.
Once your muscles adapt, tey can be trained for speed. You lost speed because your new muscle tissue isn’t at full strenght and your previous muscles are reforming with the new tissue. In essence, you swapped out a V6 for a V8, but havenb’t put the new spark plugs in yet. Once a muscle group is developed, it then can be relaxed and used for graceful speed and power.
A Pro (American) football quarter back builds muscles. They can throw the ball far because of the muscles operating fluidly. Your statement about taking some time off will probably work wonders. Then, with finesse, you will be able to train the new guns to work smoothly, and faster.
If you have strong muscles and are cracking a whip with sturdy, rigid motions, the muscles will slow it down. But if you have bigger muscles and can relax them while cracking the whip, you will generate much more fluid power. That is the combination of physics and geometry that will create more speed from more “fluid” power.
Basically, if you can land them in play, it really doesn’t matter. A 250 yd. drive in the fairway is far better than a 300 yd.er into the woods!
March 4th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Nick,
As I watched your swings, the things I noticed are.
1.flexibility,you need more.
2.not getting set at the top of your swing.
3.Is the speed reader in the correct
place.
4.The pace as you continued hit your shots seemed to get a litte faster.
March 6th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Nick,
I need my password to open your files.
Thank you.
Please reply.